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Windmills of Boris’s mind, more gas

The new gas-fired engines…
[Odd because it apparently has RR gas turbines. 117MW]

“This important investment in London’s growing low carbon technology sector will not only help power our Tube network, but will also reduce pressure on the National Grid, cut utility bills for local residents, and reduce air pollution from boilers,” Johnson said in a statement..

Transport is notoriously misrepresented on energy efficiency. Apples and apples are hard to find but far easier than actual data.
This was a pastime interest of mine for many years, growing out of finding nonsense claims in the media and literature. The appearance of The Internet hasn’t helped, made taking action against individuals or broadcasters much harder, now more or less impractical.

What is Boris up to if anything? What is really going on with transport in the London area?

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” …….. up to six new gas engines to power the network known as the “Tube” and provide heat for 20,000 homes.”

A superb example of the benefits of CHP in a metropolis.

Except ………..

Distributing & utilising the ‘waste’ heat to all those homes, the vast majority of which already have existing individual ‘wet’ systems.

For new-builds – District Heating can be designed-in; but unless much of Greenwich is to be demolished & rebuilt, I fear somebody’s taking liberties with the numbers.

The ‘waste’ heat might be sufficient to meet the needs of 20,000 homes. Piping all that heated water underground, below already utility-congested roads both to and from 20,000 homes will be an infrastructural headache.

Greenwich houses 7 elderly (1970’s) simple cycle gas turbines to meet peak loads and provide emergency backup for the London Underground. It used to be a coal fired station and the gas turbine units are stationed in the old boiler house. The old turbine hall is essentially empty.

London Underground used to have its own power station at Lots Road but this was closed in 2002 and the site sold to a property company. The ground breaking ceremony for the housing development on that site was graced by Bozza Johnson in 2013

I sincerely hope that are not just installing gas engines which are relatively small low power devices typically installed in building basements. I would hope that the development would use modern combined cycle gas turbines, the old turbine hall is certainly large enough.

The old Battersea power station of course was used to supply a district heating system which was replaced by a district heating system using gas engines but that was installed in a much smaller building.

Given that domestic boilers in London are already gas fired and hence low pollution its hard to see how replacing them would help reduce pollution, indeed given the high efficiency of modern gas boilers and the inevitable transmission losses of hot water and electricity net emissions would probably rise.

Looks like a bit of normal activity jazzed up and milked for eco-green political gain.

Stand-alone, off-grid dependency for certain services is a good idea. Our telephones still work when the power goes out. Have the grid go down and the tubes still get people home? Great idea.

Energy self-sufficiency for businesses, factories has been a repeated theme out in western Canada. Control your own energy costs with your own gas wells and gas-to-electricity turbines. Has never taken off, just short-term diesel generators for use in emergencies. I think there is too much duplication of equipment and people required, and there is no economic gain through size. But if the production of gas is independent of the production of electricity to supply the gas, then it would work.

That’s a question: when the national grid goes down, does the flow of natural gas go down (at least in part) also?